Local author, musician and humorist Michael Gray will present an evening of storytelling and music inspired by John Quidor's "Peter Stuyvesant Watching the Festivities on the Battery" in a program tonight, Jan. 30, at the Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View.

The painting, also known as "Dance on the Battery," is an oil on canvas, circa 1860. It depicts a passage from Washington Irving's "Knickerbocker's History of New York," where Stuyvesant, the first Dutch governor of New York, watches his citizens dance outdoors. In the painting, Stuyvesant, dressed in green, sits in a fancy chair with his peg leg extended and smokes as the dancers joyously dance around him.

Gray's "Musical Stories: An Evening on the Battery" will begin at 6 p.m. and is included in regular admission: $9.95 adults, $4.95 children.

For more information, call 423-267-0968 or visit www.huntermuseum.org.